Safety is our battle cry

As cheerleading becomes more of a combination of dance, gymnastic and circus stunts, school officials are trying to make sure the safety standards are keeping up with the whirlwind of activity.

A 2004 study by researchers at the Orthopedic Center in Rockville, Md., and physical therapists at the University of North Carolina found that 6 percent of 100,000 cheerleaders studied had "catastrophic injuries" such as death, skull fractures, cervical fractures, major ligament injuries and spinal cord contusions.

These injuries are more severe than in other high school sports.

"Cheerleaders are putting themselves in harm's way," said Becky Wichern, cheerleading coach at Saxony Lutheran High School for the last four years. "If they are careless or the coach isn't watching, they can hurt themselves."

Saxony Lutheran cheerleaders visit the athletic trainer often, Wichern said. Usually it's just to tape up a sprained ankle or wrist, but sometimes it's more serious.

Pyramid stunts and basket tosses were the most likely to cause injury to cheerleaders, the study said.

Saxony's 13 cheerleaders competed in their first state competition in November and performed pyramid stunts. Their squad took second place in its division. Scott City cheerleaders also compete and perform the more extreme stunts, like pyramids and basket tosses.

Other schools choose a less aggressive approach to cheerleading.

"Those competitions are so intense and so competitive that you will do those extra stunts for the points, and some of those stunts are very dangerous," Notre Dame Regional High School cheerleading coach Tanya Davis said. "Even when you have them down, something can go wrong."

Some schools turn away from the stunts and focus more on what cheerleading was in the beginning: crowd control.

The Notre Dame, Jackson High School and Eagle Ridge Christian School cheerleaders are more chanters and cheerers than gymnasts.

"The girls know their job is to pump up our fans," Davis said. "We get out, we do cheers and we do stunts, but their major job is to keep the crowd controlled."

Jackson's cheerleading coach is on maternity leave, so the squad is in a bit of transition, principal Rick McClard said. The cheerleaders are less acrobatic than at other schools and don't participate in state competitions.

Jackson cheerleaders don't do any lifts over two people tall, McClard said.

While Notre Dame doesn't perform pyramids taller than two girls, they still have cheerleaders who are tossed in the air, called "flyers."

Notre Dame senior Rachael Unterreiner is a new flyer and said flying scares her. Unterreiner's parents asked her if she trusted the bases, the girls who were holding her up. She said she told them she would be fine.

Wichern at Saxony Lutheran checks with parents, especially the flyers', to make sure they are comfortable with the stunts their daughters will be performing.

"I say to them, 'Now look, this is what we're trying, are you OK with that?'" Wichern said. So far, no parents have withdrawn permission.

Coaches can be more concerned about the cheerleaders than parents because they see the falls.

Wichern often tells her cheerleaders that's she's worse than a mom, that she doesn't even know if she'd let a child of hers do it. "It does make me nervous," she said, "but eventually you just have to trust that they know what they're doing."

Wichern says sometimes she has to hold her girls back from trying stunts they haven't practiced enough for their own safety.

First-year Scott City cheerleading coach Sarah Lewallen said her girls face consequences, like push-ups, for letting a girl fall during practice to emphasize the importance of staying safe.

"It's not just for the person whose fault it is. It's for everybody because it was a team effort," Lewallen said.

Saxony cheerleaders spent the summer practicing on a springboard floor and a cushioned landing area at Class Act gymnastics in Jackson. This was to protect the cheerleaders as they were first learning the stunts.

Notre Dame cheerleaders also spent the summer conditioning to keep the girls in better athletic shape. Coach Tanya Davis said conditioning has kept the squad injury-free so far.

When Saxony practices in its gym, the cheerleaders use mats to cushion falls, just as Notre Dame and other schools do.

"But eventually you have to take the mats away and you have to do it on a hardwood floor," Wichern said.

Some schools start right on the wood gym floor and say they are just as safe as those schools that practice with mats. The Scott City cheerleaders practice on the gym floor, always without mats, so they can get used to the floor, Lewallen said.

"If you get used to the mats, then it takes away that comfort zone when you take them away," Lewallen said.

The Missouri High School Athletic Association requires cheerleading coaches to attend a rules and regulations meeting.

"They're pretty stringent on not letting them do things that they think would harm the girls," Wichern said. "They're just outlawed."

College cheerleaders are five times more likely to be injured than high school cheerleaders, the report said. Lewallen said there are far fewer restrictions at the college level.

ameyer@semissourian.com

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